Graves dot part of possible landfill site

Graves dot part of possible landfill site

A wrought-iron fence surrounds the graves of the Joyce family at Concord Cemetery located on Monsanto Road.

Graves dot part of possible landfill site

A sign outside a locked gate at the former Monsanto site gives contact information about gaining access to the New Hebron Cemetery, however, those telephone numbers are not longer in service.

Graves dot part of possible landfill site

A county map denotes the location of historic cemeteries on the property formerly owned by Monsanto Chemical Company. The Joyce, Hodge, and Concord Cemeteries can be located in the top right corner of the map.

Graves dot part of possible landfill site

Weather and time have taken their toll on some of the historic headstones at Concord Cemetery located on Monsanto Road.

Graves dot part of possible landfill site

Some of the headstones - like the one of Lucy Joyce - date to the 1800s.

Chain link fence outlines the main portion of the former phosphorus plant at the end of Monsanto Road. Rust blots the gate locks and weeds grow from the cracks in the concrete parking lot.

Empty buildings, overgrown trees and silence are all that remains of a former business that extracted and processed the earth’s mineral deposit.

But there is a human element to this site. Somewhere within the confines is the final resting place of dozens of former Maury County residents, their headstones stained by rain and moss.

Joyce Cemetery and Hodge Cemetery are nearly impossible to find without a guide, and access to the New Hebron Cemetery is barred by a locked gate —a simple painted sign with neat letters gives the names and outdated telephone numbers of the gatekeepers. Locating them on a map is much easier.

The large Concord Cemetery, tucked behind the tree-lined Monsanto Road outside the fence is the most accessible. A dirt path leads to the base of a sacred grassy knoll dotted with gravestones marked with names like Joyce, Gray and Lindsey. Others simply display a number stamped in stone.

Some of the markers sit askew or have fallen into the spongy ground. The short, wrought-iron fence creates an uneven line around a family of graves. Remnants of flowers and ribbon reveal that those buried there are not all forgotten.

“That cemetery always has been a special place for us,” said Paula Lindsey, whose grandparents are buried in Concord Cemetery.

Lindsey, who is the director of administration at Williams Funeral Home in Columbia, said a church once stood near the cemetery, which now contains the remains of numerous family members.

“Monsanto always did a very good job of maintaining the cemetery … kept it mowed and everything,” she said.

To her family, the cemetery is a peaceful place to honor their loved ones — a place they do not want disturbed by the noises and smells a landfill could bring to the area.

Earlier this year, developers proposed building a landfill at the site, but they later withdrew an application for rezoning for Maury County Commissioner consideration. Opponents expressed concerns about the possible effect a landfill could have on the nearby Duck River despite plans that included a buffer zone around the landfill.

Paula Lindsey’s father said he shares those concerns, but he also cringes when he thinks about a landfill’s impact on the final resting place of his parents, his grandparents, two brothers, aunts, uncles and nephews.

“It is a family cemetery, and it means a whole lot. It’s pretty sacred to us,” 68-year-old Orville Lindsey said. “We don’t need any more noise, smells or the inconvenience it (landfill) would bring.”

The possibility of moving the graves is not even a consideration, he said.

County Historian Bob Duncan said developers would be required to get a court order to relocate the cemeteries, but civil engineer Jim Webb, who works for the developers, said the graves would remain undisturbed if the property is ever re-purposed as a landfill.

County archive records show Joyce Cemetery contains about 10-12 graves marked with field stones. Its location is somewhere between a paved road and the Duck River, on top of a mound left by miners. Those resting there include William Wallis Jennings who died in 1835.

Hodge Cemetery is located just 400 yards from the Duck River and includes the Hodge family: Frances Hodge who died in 1852; his wife, Mary, who died in 1865 and their sons, Joseph (1865) and John L. (1863).

The New Hebron Cemetery, also known as Harlan Cemetery, is located inside the fence down a county lane. Some of graves there date back to 1882.

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